Deja Vu

I didn't have a post All-Star weekend post. All-Star weekend was horrible, so I didn't waste my time, The Rockets are looking pretty much the same as they have the last couple of years. You know, losing to bad teams on a regular basis, fighting for the 8th seed in the West. I am seriously fed up. This is so frustrating. It's the same story with different faces. I'm not sure if we'll be able to get out of this any time soon. I don't think there is a good enough trade that the Rockets both can and will make that can get them out of this. I like Morey, and I know he's trying his best, but this is getting pointless. Les Alexander needs to let Morey blow it up. I'm not even sure why I waste my time pulling for this team. I don't enjoy watching them at al. I absolutely hate Kevin Martin. Just now I found out that Kyle Lowry is out 2 to 4 weeks with a bacterial infection. I don't know what comes next. This is just stupid now.

I'm Baaaaaaack! All-Star Break and Nonsense

It's been quite a while since my last post. (About a year and a half) I slipped out of the habit for whatever reason. Like a lot of my posts, this isn't structured very well. I basically just poured my thoughts out. The Rockets are still as irrelevant as they were last time I posted, but at least it's looking like they might make the playoffs this year. A lot has happened since my last post: the hiring of Kevin McHale, the lockout, the Chris Paul trade that wasn't, the Chris Paul trade that was. I'm not sure I've ever been as upset as I was when that trade was nixed. I, like many other Rockets die-hards, had spent hours dreaming of a dominant big man duo of Pau and Nene. I was looking forward to the Rockets being covered by the national media and playing games on national TV again.

I still feel like Morey is going to make a big trade by the deadline. Maybe we get Pau. Maybe we trade Kevin Martin. Apparently Courtney Lee wants to be traded, since the Rockets won't give him an extension(Daryl Morey doesn't give anyone extensions). I want Morey to trade for a consistent post scorer or someone who can create his own shot. This team is sitting pretty at 20-14 and could really make some noise in the playoffs with a good trade.

I think it's a shame that the trade deadline isn't the Wednesday after the All-Star game because of the lockout. There is always a lot of excitement with GMs negotiating with each other during the weekend. The trade rumors are usually more exciting then the game itself. March 15th isn't that far away though. It will be interesting to see if any rumors start this weekend. I'm thinking that Dwight Howard rumors will probably pick up, which will make for a painful and dramatic few weeks from the media.

I'm not sure how excited I am about the actually events of All-Star Weekend. Chase Budinger (who is seeing no playing time) is in the dunk contest, and Chandler Parsons is in the Shooting Stars competition. I've wanted to see Chase Budinger in the dunk contest since he was a rookie. Whoever decided on the dunk contest participants definitely knew what they were doing. I think Bud is the best dunker on the team.

I guess it's nice to see Parsons in the Shooting Stars competition, although he should have been in the Rising Stars game. He's not actually a rising star but neither is Tristan Thompson. It is phenomenal that a white guy drafted late in the 2nd round is an impact starter in his rookie season. Chandler is definitely not a shooter, but he does have a knack for hitting half-court shots. It was kind of his thing at Florida. He actually did hit a beautiful buzzer beater three off a broken play against the Sixers that may or may not have been a fade-away.

The last thing I want to talk about is how much I like Kevin McHale. There have been rumblings that some players are upset with his play selection, because they want to run a few Adelman plays that used to work well, but I think that's normal for this type of coaching change. There were a number of things I disliked about Adelman. The number one thing though was how awful he was with the media. Kevin McHale is fun to watch in interviews and press conferences no matter what mood he's in. He had a great presser last night. I'd talk about it, but I think Rahat Huq did it justice in this post: http://www.red94.net/mchale-perception/9068/ ... I feel like McHale being our head coach just makes our big men better. I can only imagine what he could have done with Pau and Nene.

So that's really all I have to say for now. I'll probably have a post All-Star post(yeah, that sounds stupid). If a trade goes down, I'm sure I'll have plenty to write about it.

Preseason

Lots of random thoughts on what we have (WARNING: not exactly organized):
So it's been awhile. So I was not happy about drafting Patterson, since I was hoping for a trade of some kind, and he's definitely not an exciting player. That's all I'm gonna say about that. So preseason is going well. Rockets so far are back to being a top 10 defensive team. We have so many players who are known for defense - Lee, Battier, Jeffries, Hayes. Yao is getting some blocks in the preseason, which is kind of out of character for him but good to see non the less. We don't really have any stars, but we are maybe the deepest team in the league. Martin/Lee is the best situation the Rockets have had at SG in quite some time. Courtney Lee is probably my favorite Rocket. He definitely brings two things Ariza did not - competence and confidence. I really feel like this is the best team personnel wise the franchise has had in 15 years. Jordan Hill has a Bosh-esque jump shot, which is nice to see. I was kind of worried about him and then that shot showed up. He's definitely a project, but he's got serious potential. We've also had a lot of SportsCenter Top 10 plays in the preseason, which isn't a bad thing. The Rockets were kind of forgotten by the media last season. This team has lots of offensive talent, is strong defensively, flashy, deep, and fast. I can't wait to see where this team goes. Worst case scenario: Yao goes down AGAIN, he retires and we rebuild, which is fine with me. Morey is great at rounding up role players, So we just need to get a star. Best case scenario: LeBron blows out both knees and Kobe finally has an injury he can't overcome, and the Rockets win the championship with some asterisks. I actually could see this team get past the Lakers with our depth. Adelman has to beat Phil Jackson some day, right?

The 2010 NBA Draft is Thursday!

As a Rockets fan I am always excited about the NBA Draft, because that's when Daryl really works his magic(he's never had a lottery pick). I have read that we may make draft night trade that includes our 14th overall pick. The target is Nikola Pekovic(T-Wolves have his draft rights), the best offensive center in Europe. Yes he is a true center(not David Anderson aka Hobo Dirk). He basically has the measurements of Dwight Howard. That said he is not a good defender and not nearly as athletic. I have grown weary of 7-footers and think that 6'10''/6'11'' 170 is the perfect size for an NBA center. He is a truly remarkable post player. Houston is historically the best place for big men and I think he'd give us some serious help against the Laker giants. Whatever happens on draft night I am sure that I will be running around my house like a little girl, because Daryl will do something incredible.

Bill Simmons

So I have been watching most of the Finals with Bill Simmons' live commentary which is on espn.com and nba.com. If someone sends him a comment he likes he posts it on his feed. Well, the thing is he can only read the first sentence of each comment. He was talking about the bizarre halftime show and someone sent him the following comment(Simmons is a Jersey Shore fan).:

Snooki:
That looks like most of my nights. 2 muscled men, lots of touching and a high chance of someone contracting HIV.

I laughed to tears reading that. Simmons apologized multiple times for letting it get through. Great stuff.

What Could Have Been: Kurt Rambis and the Bulls

It's old news that the Bulls have hired Celtics assistant Tom Thibodeau as their next head coach. I am absolutely convinced that had Kurt Rambis not taken the Timberwolves job last year he would have been hired by the Bulls. The T-Wolves job was really the only job available last year from what I can remember. It's also arguably the worst head coaching job in the NBA (maybe Golden State). The Bulls wanted Phil Jackson so they could court LeBron, and that's a pretty unrealistic hire, but Kurt Rambis really is the next best thing. He was probably the only assistant every true NBA fan knew by name and working with Phil Jackson in LA for most of his tenure, and prior to that he did a decent job coaching the team during the lockout(24-13). He's been a player(LeBron has said he wants to play for an ex-player), coach, and assistant GM, so he definitely knows basketball. The T-Wolves are a horribly run team. It's definitely not Rambis' fault they are stuggling.

My Lebron/Tom Izzo Theory

So today everyone has been talking about how the Cavs are trying to attract Tom Izzo. Many ESPN personalities don't thing a big time college coach would lure LeBron. I actually think the exact opposite. LeBron has a strange infatuation with college basketball. The past couple years he has decided the best player in college basketball should be his BFF(Curry, Wall). He loves his money, but I know there is a large part of him that longs to play college ball, so why not play for the man many call the best college coach in the game. I don't want to here that Izzo's coaching skills won't translate to the NBA. He's a decent recruiter who maxes out his players. Had he coached that Kentucky team I think they could have gone undefeated.

Lottery

So it's been a while. The Draft Lottery is tomorrow. We can only get the picks 14,3,2, and 1, so if "Houston Rockets" is not called first -- freak out! Aaron Brooks will be representing the Rockets as Steve Francis did when we got the number one overall, which landed us Yao like 9 years ago. Irony is if AB lucks us into number one, he'll likely be traded. We could trade the pick. I mean what would we do with an elite guard? We are pretty much maxed out and the chemistry is great between AB and K-Mart. I hope we get pick 14, maybe trade up and draft Hassan Whiteside. He's Center out of Marshall. He's a bit of a project, but Houston is the best place to develop big men. Hell, Bynum probably would have been far better than he is now 3 years ago had he been a Rocket. Oh well. I know I will be watching patiently tomorrow. No matter what happens I trust that Daryl Morey will maximize our draft assets and we will dominate the draft and off-season.

Forward Power!

So I have decided it's basically guaranteed that one of the following is a Rocket next season : Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, Amare Stoudemire, Al Jefferson. For obvious reasons Chris Bosh would be my first choice but if we could not get him I would love to have Carlos Boozer. I think we could actually woo him. It's no secret that Carlos Boozer and the Jazz are not on the best of terms. It can't hurt that we have Shane Battier, National Championship teammate of Carlos Boozer. I know from watching NBA TV that Shane Battier is a big fan of Boozer's game, but honestly who isn't. Game 6 of the Jazz/Nuggets series is all you need to see. Boozer had an unbelievable game. He may be getting up in age, but he is definitely still in his prime. 22 points, 20 rebounds, 5 assists, and a steal. He absolutely dominated. I know I just wrote about how Kenyon Martin was handling Boozer, but Kenyon had a very bad night on both ends of the floor in game 6. Daryl Morey, please bring us greatness whether it be Boozer or Bosh. I am also a Big Al Jefferson fan, but he won't fit into our offense as well. Him and Yao would struggle on the court together since they have the same favorite spots. Al Jefferson would have to expand his game quite a bit. I want nothing to do with Amare Stoudemire. All Amare wants to is score. he has great size, but for some reason can't rebound to save his life and he is one of the worst defensive players in the league. He has absolutely no defensive skills. The most he does is keep track of where his guy is, which tends to turn into him watching his man stuff one down.

The Year of the Rocket

The following is a mess, because my mind is overwhelmed with thoughts:
Next season is going to be very big for the Rockets. The 2008-09 season with supposed to be it. We had a big three with the addition of Ron Artest. If Yao had stayed healthy in the end and T-Mac had been what he was in 2007-08 rather than falling apart, the Rockets would have won a championship. The most painful part was the loss in Dallas that lost the Rockets the Southwest Title and dropped them from the 2 seed to the 5 seed. Well, things happened(Yao didn't heal right and was pronounced out indefinitely, Ron Artest bolted for LA, and like that our big three became a big zero), and the next season the Rockets had only one nationally televised game, and it was added later during the season. Well, I am starting to feel really good about next season. I'm reading that we have what the Raptors want in Jordan Hill, so we could add some guys and maybe get a deal done. It really doesn't matter. The Rockets will have some major addition(s) this summer. It's looking like the Timmy and Dirk eras are coming to an end, so assuming everyone stays healthy, which is unlikely for the Rockets(please, God, give us one season), the Rockets could win the Southwest. It's hard to know who will be the contending teams next season. The free agency mess will change everything. I think the East in particular will drastically change. We can assume that the Lakers will still be favorites, but I would love for the Rockets to get some hype. Next season will be very exciting if everyone stays healthy!

Kenyon Martin

I just watched Jazz/Nuggets game 5. My favorite player in the NBA is Kenyon Martin, and he did everything I love tonight. He is a tremendous interior defender. Carlos Boozer scored 25 points in 42 minutes. He was very inefficient and was often forced to pass the ball out. Kenyon was the perfect blend of heart, hustle, and talent tonight. Next time you watch Kenyon look for his signature defensive move in the post. He raises one arm up, while checking his man with the other and essentially creates a wall. The player will try to work his way out of it, but Kenyon's hand and foot speed is just too quick. I enjoy watching Luis Scola struggle with this every time the Nuggets play the Rockets.

The Off-Season

I am very excited about this off-season for a number of reasons. I have absolute faith in Daryl Morey. and I am sure we will have at least one great addition to our current roster. I know that the front office is targeting Bosh, but I really just want to wait and see what happens. Every off-season and trade deadline I end up chasing my tail trying to figure out what Daryl Morey is going to get done. I always understand that many of our players plan to participate in rigorous training programs. Kevin Martin said in an interview that he plans on working harder this summer than he ever has before, and if you know anything about his background that really means something. Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill have also talked about training programs to help them take there games to new heights in their sophomore seasons. Trevor Ariza is apparently taking the "not going to thing about basketball all summer" approach. I'm sure he'll start off the season in a deathly shooting slump. Yao Ming obviously has a lot of work to do this summer. Ideally, the Rockets can be contendors with a healthy Yao and one last piece. The roster should be shaken up, because I have heard Morey say on a number of occasions that he believes most of the big deals will get done via sign-and-trade, because it apparently helps all parties financially.

Hello World

I have been inspired by Rahat Huq of the Red94 blog(red94.net) to start a blog of my own. I have lots of opinions and am always thinking about the Houston Rockets and sports in general. I spend a lot of my time reading sports articles and columns from various local and national news sources. I have even been known to read articles from outside of the United States if it helps me get the information I need. Until I develop a following this blog will probably mostly serve as a way for me to vent my thoughts.